Cuttin’ It Up

Nadir is a barber from Marasi, and Muhammad is a 19 year old who was once shot in the arm and now sits at his computer and makes beats. From the article:

Critical Palestinians speak of a “culture of death”; as long as their compatriots are being shot dead, wounded and held in jail, many people feel that there should be no public manifestation of joy. Now, large wedding parties are again taking place in the Gaza Strip; but although dance music is played, none of the seated guests even claps along to it. It’s an attitude that links the generations: music and exuberance are targets of disapproval.

Hindered at home, the Palestinian Rappers were delighted by the chance to tour Northern Ireland in March. The tour was organised by a solidarity committee in the province, and it gave Muhammad the opportunity to leave the Gaza Strip for the first time in his life.

“And when we came back”, he laughs, “the first thing that happened was we were summoned by the Palestinian intelligence agency. They wanted to know whether I knew any Americans and what I had been up to in Ireland.”